Retaliation for Love and Justice!
by Reficula
Summary: Sort of a continuation of my previous fic, but can be read alone. Xellos and Filia both get an invite to Sailrune, and as they arrive they wind up in the same room. And can’t get out! X/F and L/G, A/Z
1. Trapped

**AN:** Okay, here's the first chapter of the Xellos/Filia fanfic I promised to make. It's sort of a continuation of the other fic, seeing how I like to build on what's already there. But it can be read alone with very little trouble (you won't miss out on much).

I don't own Slayers, any of the characters or the world. I do, however, own what little plot there might be in here, and the story itself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Amelia, when you said you wanted to invent a magical containing-field, which might hold back even Mazoku for a short period of time, in order to make the world a better place, I wasn't expecting you to have THIS in mind for the usage!" The redheaded sorceress complained, as she crawled out of the power-core. "I was thinking more of an "I hold 'em, you punch" kinda deal."

"But it WILL make the world a more beautiful place!" Amelia insisted, starry-eyed. The trial had gone well, and it seemed that only a few more changes were needed before they'd be in business.

"You're hoping she'll kill him then?" Lina asked, genuinely puzzled. Amelia's little invention had been very nicely constructed and thought out; no doubt she'd been tapping onto her husband's intellect too.

"No, I'm hoping…" she started, looking shyly to the floor and blushing a little. "I'm hoping that love will blossom between them!" she declared, and Lina felt like deadpanning, but decided against it. There was one option left still.

"And you're hoping THAT will kill him, then?" she asked, grasping the last straw she could spot. Not that she was fond of killing off Xellos, seeing how he was the only Mazoku they had the least bit leverage on. But then again, one had to start somewhere.

Amelia's almost insulted look gave way the answer to that one. Okay, so what had she in mind then? Surely it couldn't just be to trap the Ruyzoku and the Mazoku together, now could it?

"Believe it Lina. This was what she had in mind all along." Zelgadis dryly remarked, confirming the redhead's thoughts. He wasn't openly fond of the idea, but it seemed only fitting and fair, considering the part the two supernatural beings had played in his and Amelia's little hook-up story.

Lina frowned, thinking. Well, that would certainly explain why so much care had been put into calibrating the damn thing so that it'd be able to trap Ruyzoku also, and why it hadn't been a problem that nobody could walk in or out of the field while it was activated, not even humans. Not that Lina had any idea how to make a barrier that would positively hold any Mazoku or Ruyzoku and let humans pass anyways. It was probably not very easily achieved, if at all, due to the fact that most humans DID have a bit of astral energy too, so you couldn't just use that as an exclusion marker.

"But I don't get it. How are you going to make "love blossom" between them?" Lina insisted.

Gourry spoke up. Now they weren't talking magical stuff he didn't get a word of, and were back to talking about love, one of his natural topics of expertise.

"Just put them together, I should think." He said, while cradling his daughter a little tighter.

"And they will kill each other!" Lina insisted. She really couldn't see it any other way. But nobody seemed to listen.

"The sparks fly so obviously between them." Amelia said.

"It's sparks of hate!" Lina almost sounded pleading. And if she had to reason with Amelia, pleading to her tiny amount of reason would be the only way to go, because when Amelia had her mind set on things, you couldn't just bend the concept Justice to serve your purpose: Amelia herself was a master of exactly that, and had been for years. You don't challenge a shark under water either.

"Love and hate are equally strong, and not entirely un-alike! If we just trap them together long enough-" Amelia started.

"It'll all explode in our faces.." Lina finished.

"Well, I for one am willing to give it a try." Said Zelgaids, his arms crossed, but his facial expression not entirely unlike a smirk.

"You're just hoping Filia kills Xellos, because you know she's about the only thing that can get to him." Amelia said, shooting her husband a dirty glance. "Imagine it, Lina-san! Two people, overcoming the barrier of being from opposite fractions of the universe, and joining together in true love and justice!

Lina used Amelias starry-eyed moment to turn her eyes to the heaven in a roll. Well, she had tried. She did her best. Her conscience was clear. And with that out of the way, perhaps she could even begin to enjoy this little scheme. After all, it almost seemed like something she might have cooked up herself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Filia had been surprised to be invited to the castle. She'd figured it might have something to do with Zelgadis' curse, or any kind of problems that might be in more… intimate interactions between Amelia and him. But, fortunately they weren't yet talking about having kids, and as far as anything else in the bedchamber went, Amelia assured her that it was going just fine, with some patience and a lot of creativity. Filia had the courtesy not to ask any further. Or maybe she had the embarrassment not to. At any rate, she didn't ask and Amelia didn't tell her.

But then why were she here? Amelia had asked her to bring Val, which she'd done happily. He was only a little older than Ruby, so with any luck they'd grow up to be great friends. And one could ALWAYS use an Inverse-Gabriev as a friend. Better that than enemy.

Amelia had all sorts of plans for what they were going to do, hotsprings, long walks, teashops, shopping, but all of them girly-things that Filia hadn't done much before and certainly not after she became a "mother" to Val. So it was a welcomed surprise, and Filia left Val in the capable hands of Gourry and Lina. And a couple of well trained maids that had used to look after Amelia when she was little.

On the first day they'd only managed to do a little shopping, mainly new clothes for Filia, but tomorrow they'd go up the mountain to a hotspring that Amelia adored. Filia was looking forward to that. Relaxing for a while. Not that she minded being the caretaker of Val, but there were just times when she needed a little time to unwind.

She sat down on her bed, and noticed that it was a pretty impressive room, a huge bed, a comfy couch, a table with four chairs, a writing desk, and even its own bathroom in a adjacent room. All in all a room far on par with any room she'd stayed in in the castle so far, even though it was in one of the buildings further away from the main part of the castle. She wondered, though, why she was put in this building. Not that it bothered her, but she did wonder...

As she stretched out on the bed she allowed her eyes to drift closed. This had been a good day. She didn't know how Amelia could have told that this was just what she needed. Perhaps she'd noticed it at the wedding. Who knew?

Her eyes flew open as she heard a voice behind the door. A voice she'd rather not have heard right now.

"Well of course I'd come. I'm only too happy to help out, Amelia, you should know that." The voice said. It was coming from right outside her door now. "I'll be more than happy to look those scrolls over and give you my opinion. I'm just a little surprised that you called for me."

"Zelgadis is still mad for you and Filia-san intervening, but I'm very grateful, so I realize that you might not be human, but you have the heart in the right place, Xellos-san!" Amelia's voice joined in, and Filia struggled with the urge to go out there and correct her. But then she figured that Amelia's never ending optimism and positive life-attitude was punishment enough.

To her surprise they didn't just walk past her room. The door opened, and Xellos stepped in. He stopped dead in his tracks for a second, locking eyes with the dragoness, who slowly got up from the bed. Amelia stood a few steps behind him, but didn't come near the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Your room is on the opposite side then, Xellos-san." She said, and Filia could swear she could see the princess' mouth quirk in a weird way, but couldn't point down as to why.

Filia looked at the trickster. She hated to admit it, but he looked well today. It was probably due to the fact that he'd been invited to the castle and took the opportunity to create as much havoc as possible. Somehow she found that she couldn't stop staring back at him as he stood there, almost frozen in his step. Then he scoffed, a grin and looked away.

"So, I'm going to live in the room opposite this health hazard?" he said, his voice a little more sarcastic than usual. He started to turn, to walk out the door, as he continued to speak. "I suppose it was wise to place us in a building far away from the castle. Of course, if we start fighting, there's no telling how much damage this violent creature will inflict."

"Ha! Like I would be the danger, Namagomi!" Filia snapped back, raking her brain for a sharp reply, but keeping on drawing blanks. "As long as you stay on your side of the hall, I don't have a problem with you! In fact, as long as you don't invade the same space I inhabit I'm perfectly fine!"

"So I just have to stop existing in this world, is that it?" he fished, his tone sugary sweet, as he turned away from the door and back into the room, taking a few steps towards her.

"That would be preferable." She courtly said. She couldn't help an evil smile.

"That's very generous of you, Filia-san. But then again, your kind have always been so very generous to people other than their own kind, haven't they? Especially the ancient dragons benefitted a lot from your vast generosity." The tone was malicious, and every word stung at Filia. Yes he had a point, but no, she wasn't going to admit to that. Nor would she allow him to win this argument, just because he pulled that card.

"Just you wait till I get Mace-sama unpaked from my belongings, Xellos!" she warned.

He shot her a sarcastic smile, and turned to face Amelia, who was still standing 3 feet away from the door, craning her neck to see what was going on. Filia wondered. Was that girl usually this polite? It didn't seem like it was merely a matter of manners, though; it really did seem like she didn't want to get near the door.

"See, Amelia? Perhaps you should find me a place further away if you insist on me staying here while this violent dragon is around." He said, his voice filled with fake resignation. "Then again I suppose its okay as long as we don't have to stay in the same room for too long!" he sniggered.

Filia still had her eyes on Amelia, and could swear the girl went wide-eyed for a second, before almost laughing, although she couldn't be sure. It wasn't very easy to get a good look at her anyways, not with Xellos almost standing in the door and all.

"Well, if you'd like, I can find you a room further down the hall.." Amelia started, although it sounded wrong. Like a joke. All of the sudden Zelgadis appeared behind her.

"Or if you'd like, you can just go away again, Xellos. I don't even know why I let Amelia talk me into inviting you. I'm pretty sure we can figure out these scrolls on our own." His voice was hostile, but then again, Filia reminded herself, that wasn't unusual between the two.

"I think I'll stay, though." Xellos said, after a while of fake and overdramatic pondering. As he tried to walk out the door, he was stopped by an invisible wall, and repelled a feet away from it. It seemed to Filia like Xellos could step into the door, but not through it. He looked a bit ruffled by this, and blinked in mild surprise.

"What's the matter? Are you coming or what?" Zelgadis asked. Filia wondered why he was being so talkative with Xellos. Wouldn't he usually have just ignored this?

Xellos tried again, with the same result. Filia walked closer to the door. This was strange. Suddenly Xellos walked over to her, grabbed her from behind by the shoulders, and pushed her towards the door. She barely managed to start to protest before she found herself pressed against the invisible wall in a very unflattering way, her cheek pressed against it and the palms of her hand too. It seemed like none of them could get through.

Amelia looked, then laughed behind her hand, and Zelgadis stepped in in front of her.

"Are you guys quite through with whatever you're doing? You look silly by the way." He said, again, a situation where Filia would have expected him just to ignore their "antics".

"We can't go through the door!" Filia whined, while Xellos tried to give her another nudge to go through, with no success at all. "Ow! That hurts, namagomi!!"

"What do you mean "can't go through"?" Zel asked, and reached a hand towards her, but was repelled as well. "Oh… That.." His face changed into a dark expression.

Both Xellos and Filia stopped struggling with the door and looked at him.

"I heard about this from Phil, but I never knew it was still a problem…." He said, turning to Amelia, who still looked like she was ready to laugh again. Filia guessed that they must have looked really stupid while trying to get out, and that Amelia simply hadn't figured that it was serious. She then looked at Zel, and as if lightning had struck her, she got somber.

"Oh! That's right. Once one of my great grandfathers were trapped in here for days! I don't really know if they ever figured out why… But there seems to be an enclosed space here!" she said.

Zel nodded.

"Yeah.. Maybe you guys could just teleport out…" he suggested.

They both tried. And failed. Xellos looked a bit panicked. Filia felt very much like panicking herself. She was just about to throw a great spell, when she figured that if the space really was enclosed, then it'd only blast her and Xellos. She tried to call on her dragon form (although not changing, because she was not about to let Xellos see her semi-naked as she transformed!), but found that she couldn't!

"What happened?!" Xellos looked at his hands with panic marring his face. He then snapped towards Zelgadis and Amelia. "What did you do!? What happened to some of my powers?! If this is some scheme to trap me or kill me, I assure-"

"You're about the last person I'd invite to stay, let alone force to. Why would I do anything to capture you? And as much as I regret it, I can't even get in there to beat you up while you have little power and can't run away!" Zel said. His voice was cold and frank, and what he said did make sense. Why would they? "Look, I'll go through the records and find a way to get you out. Amelia's great grandfather got out, so there must be a way. You two just sit tight and behave, okay?"

He looked at them. They looked at each other, first wideeyed, then narrowing their eyes in a simultaneous glare.

"Are we clear on this? No fighting!" he said, as if talking to toddlers. For what it was worth, he might as well have.

"We'll be sure to take good care of Val, Filia, I promise! And I'll try to see if I can find a way to send in some food…" Amelia said, while smiling apologetic. But Filia couldn't help thinking there was something wrong with the smile.

Amelia and Zelgadis walked away, and Filia and Xellos were left in the room, staring at each other. How long were they going to be here, together? Filia shivered. She really hoped that Zelgadis would return pretty damn fast, or else she was in a whole world of trouble.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When they'd turned the corner of the building, Zelgadis and Amelia looked at each other and burst into laughing.

"Oh, it was all worth it, just to see his expression when he couldn't just disappear!" Zel laughed. "That'll teach him!"

Amelia couldn't form words at all. She was laughing too hard. Filia had looked so incredibly silly pressed up against the invisible wall like that.

"We might have wanted to rehearse that story, though…" Zelgadis said. "If they catch on, there'll be hell to pay once they get out."

"I'm sorry. I think I blew it a couple of times… Thanks for saving me, though." She smiled warmly at Zelgadis. "But I'm pretty sure they're willing to forgive our meddling if it turns out alright."

Zel eyed her warily.

"And if it doesn't?"

Amelia stood in silence for a while.

"Oh! Look at the time. I should be getting up to Lina in the power-core to swap place with her!" she said, and started to march towards the core. Zelgadis hand shot out, grabbed her elbow, and pulled her in close, her back pressed firmly against his chest. He lowered his head and whispered in her ear.

"You're still a terrible liar, and you're not very elegant about changing the topic either, Princess." His voice was somewhat of a deep purr in her ear, and his breath tickled her earlobe. Invariably she found herself blushing. Every now and again he'd go back to calling her by her title, which always augured some sort of punishment. She shivered in delight.

Oh yes, this plan was perfect and would bring about much love and justice!

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**AN:** I love the "two people in one room"-premis, even though it's old, used and worn. But let's see if I can't make at least a little spark or two fly. ;) Sorry there's a little Z/A towards the end. I promise it won't take focus. I just couldn't help it. They ARE after all my favourite couple in the series.

Reviews would be nice, but don't feel pressured. I like to know how I'm doing, but I often find myself reading something, thinking it was okay or good, and then forgetting to leave a review, so I won't say that you have to. ;)


	2. Typical Teasing

**AN:** Wow, thank you for all the reviews. I never expected it to get so many so soon. I am truly grateful! And as with so many other fanfic writers, I love to receive reviews, praise, criticism and suggestions alike, and this in turn fuels my writing enthusiasm. So thank you.

Again, this fic does contain a few pointers to my other slayers fic _Real Roses Have Thorns_, but I am trying to keep it so that it can be read separately.

To those Xel/Fil fans who actually read the other story (to follow this one or for the heck of it), I am honored. :D

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters nor the world of the Slayers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They glared at each other, neither willing to yield or even blink.

_He won't get the better of me! _Filia thought, steeling her nerves. Of course, the only thing that usually kept her sane was the fact that she could chase him away when it all became too much. Without that option, she wasn't sure how she was going to last. But she had to. Somehow. He wouldn't get the better of her!

He seemed to catch sight of her inner battle, and his glare turned into a self-satisfied, smug smirk. Her frown deepened.

"Well, isn't this nice?" he asked, his tone anything but sincere. "If you only had a bit of your precious tea, this might even be like my usual visits to your little shop."

She bit the inside of her cheek to avoid an unconstructive remark on that one. If she started to cave in now, she wouldn't last long. That purplehaired, pompous, phony priest wanted her to get angry. He _enjoyed_ it. She knew that much. But even if she'd had some tea, this still wouldn't be like his usual visits.

_Don't let him get to you._

"How long do you think it is going to take?" She asked instead, opting for looking out the window instead of at him.

He shrugged.

"Hard to tell, really. But I sincerely hope it won't be for long, Filia-san." He said, his voice almost uncharacteristically honest.

_Well, to be fair, this is about as bad as it can get._ Filia thought. Their usual tolerance of each other seemed to rest on the unspoken condition that they were enemies in an almost childish way, annoying each other, calling each other names, him irritating her to the point where she would chase him.

Just like little boys would tease little girls they liked….

She shook her head, hoping that the thought hadn't surfaced to show on her face. It wasn't like that. Not really, anyways. But it was just as childish.

However, since he couldn't run and since she probably couldn't turn into dragon, where were they, really? What was left when that wasn't? All of the sudden she wasn't even sure how to react to him. There'd been few other times where she'd been in a similar situation. Like the time where he'd saved her from Valgaarv, or, as she blushed to recall, the time he'd held her captive right before Amelias wedding, to prevent her from interfering with the two lovebirds. It had been… a rattling experience. And thinking back upon it now was not helping the situation.

She wished more than anything that she had a good cup of warm tea right now to calm her nerves. In her favorite porcelain cup. She closed her eyes and tried to envision the steaming hot pot of tea, gently pouring into the cup. The crisp sound of her lifting it from the saucer, and-

"I suppose I'm not lucky enough for you to have forgotten your infernal mace, or coincidentally left it outside this room?" he asked, and her eyes snapped to him. His tone was awfully conversational, but his face had taken on a smirk.

"In fact, it's just in the bag over there." She said and pointed. "But I won't be using it. First of all, it wouldn't do much good because you wouldn't fly away; you'd only end up ricocheting off the walls and destroy the interior! But also because sudden bursts might do something to destabilize the field, and then we don't know what'll happen."

"Who knows? Maybe it'll just disappear." Xellos suggested in a voice that conveyed that he was just the kind of person who'd press a lever, just to know what happened, or play with fire for the kicks of it. "Anyways, your _noble_ intentions aside, Filia, we both know that it's only a matter of time before you lose it and start getting violent. After all, that really is all that _is_ the only strategy any Golden Dragon employ when it comes to problem solving. "

His smirk leaked into the tone, and she shot him a narrow-eyed glare. Her fist clenched, and she fought to calm her temper. He really had to love getting a rise out of her. She wasn't violent. She wasn't! She was just temperamentally challenged! This was where a good cup of tea would have done wonders. Oh, she could just feel the heat of the cup, radiating to her hand, feel the weight tug at her fingers as she would lift it to her lips, and taste the rounded and rich liquid as it ran over her tongue and proceeded to spread its comforting heat down-

"Starting to feel the abstinences, are we? From the tea, I mean." She looked at him only meet his mocking grin.

How did he know? She frowned. She'd just gotten better to keep her emotions so that he couldn't just eat them right off of her, so to speak. Apart from a few emotions she didn't have much control over, such as her anger.

"And before you ask, no I can't read your emotions, nor your mind." He sat down at the chair by the desk. "I've just never been alone with you for this long without you pining for a cup of your precious tea. And besides, your fingers were starting to twiddle with an invisible cup, just like you would with a real one. You really are so easy to read."

She glared at him. Okay, so maybe it was an addiction, or a safety blanket, or whatever he might call it, but who was he to judge? He was the one running away every time something even started to scratch the surface. Besides, he had been alone with her for longer intervals of time without her needing a cup. But again, it hadn't exactly been normal circumstances, so she supposed they didn't really count. Instead she noticed something else in the statement.

"Since when have you been so observant of how I act?" she asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Now now, Filia. That's a secret." He smiled at her, infuriatingly.

But when the room was filled with an awkward silence, she was the one to smile.

"No, seriously. Since when?" she smiled, seeing how he was still here, and that gimmick of his sort of lost all of its edge when he didn't disappear more or less after the statement.

"Didn't I just say that was a secret?" He asked, brows raised, with a mockingly puzzled expression. "Or could it be that you dragons turn deaf at will?"

"Just answer me, Namagomi!" she hissed.

"I observe everybody, very keenly, Filia-san." He said, as he turned to her and opened his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked into those frightening but beautiful violet eyes. "Especially you."

"Why?" she asked, not really sure she wanted to know the answer. She knew she wouldn't hear what she wanted to hear anyways.

"Well, what kind of adversary would I be if I didn't know you better than you know yourself, Filia-san?" he asked, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

His tone unnerved her. He walked closer to her, and she found herself starting to step backwards.

"Like the way you've recently started to chew on your lower lip and fiddle with your hair whenever you become nervous."

Filia realized that she was softly nibbling on her lip, and stopped immediately.

"Or the way you've started to back away whenever I'm getting close to you. Not that you ever really wanted me near you, seeing how a Mazoku might somehow corrupt the holy, pure and righteous Golden Dragons, but now… You almost seem frightened more than revolted."

She couldn't help but think how he actually meant that. Did it please him that she seemed afraid? Did it bother him? Truth was that she was afraid of having him close. She had been for a while now, but it all escalated when she was being held captive by him (in chains no less) during the Amelia-Zelgadis-chaos. There had been… moments, where she'd thought things she wasn't proud of. Like how she thought he was handsome, or how she wouldn't be entirely adverse to his advances, even if she knew he only had done that to intimidate her.

So yes, she was afraid to be near him. But that was mostly because she was afraid he'd eventually figure out what was going on in her mind. She knew he'd never let her hear the last of it, mocking her forever, and as she'd already concluded back then, that was a very long time with their respective lifespans.

And he was close now. Way too close, both eyes open, and not entirely smiling. This moment was too close and too honest, and way outside their normal frames of interaction. She could feel herself growing less and less certain that she could keep her emotions from becoming visible to him.

"The fact that I notice and know these little things makes it so much easier to read you." His voice took a more sadistic tone, as he came even closer.

She was running out of floor to back away on, her hand resting on the windowsill behind her, as she leaned away from him, her back touching the window. She closed her eyes and looked away.

"And when I can read you, I can predict you." His one foot bumped hers, and she could feel the heat of him. "And when I can predict you, I can control you, little golden one."

Her breath hitched as he reached a gloved finger to lift her chin, tilting her gaze to meet his. After a silence that to Filia seemed to stretch forever, he gave her a sarcastic and self-satisfied smirk, before he walked away from her.

"So you see, it is far from without reason that I notice little things about you, goldie." He looked at her over his shoulder with more trademark smile with closed eyes, sliding back into the confines of their usual roles when dealing with each other. "You seem shocked, Filia-san. I said it was a secret, and some secrets are kept secret for your own good."

Filia stood, steadying herself on the windowsill, being and looking rattled to the bone. This would not do. Not do at all! She had to do something to make sure that she would avoid situations like that one. He'd eventually catch a glimpse of her feelings, or perhaps even her hate, guilt or loathing for having them, and figure it out. And then it would all be over.

She took a quick glance over her shoulder out into the garden between this building and the main part of the castle. She was hoping to see Amelia running triumphantly towards them, having figured out how to get them out. But no such luck. And she realized that it might be a good idea to think in a long term plan.

If they didn't talk, she wouldn't get in situations like this, right? She might not be as calculating as the damned Mazoku, but being manipulative came almost natural to most females, when they put their mind to it.

"It's got nothing to do with peoples own good: You only say things are secrets because you think it makes you so damn superior, Namagomi!" she hissed, although it sounded a bit fake. Hopefully he couldn't tell. "It's the same reason why you talk so much, to show that you know so much, that you're so damn superior."

"I _am_ superior, Filia." He smiled. Then he turned to face her, opening one eye and looking at her with a smirk that sent chills down her spine. "Would you like me to prove it?"

His smirk was suggestive, the look and tone too, however, she knew that he was only trying to get her all riled up. Again. But she needed to steer this conversation to its destination.

"No thanks. Besides, I don't think that the conditions favor you right now." She almost bit her tongue. She had to make an insult pretty big in order to make sure he didn't bite the slip of tongue she'd just made, because that almost sounded like a challenge, even in her ears. "I'm pretty certain that you just love to hear your own voice! An insecure little narcissist to the end, Namagomi."

She tried to make the tone be mocking enough to make up for the lack of sharp content. It seemed to work, though.

"You're not one to talk. You Golden Dragons blabber constantly, if nothing else then to justify yourselves." He bit back, although more bantering than irritated. "If you don't talk constantly, you're afraid that somebody might stop and see right through you. To realize that you're always hiding behind words."

"Not true at all! I rarely talk when it is not appropriate or needed, and I certainly don't do it for the pleasure of hearing myself talk, like somebody else!"

"I bet you couldn't stop talking even if you wanted to." He said, smirking, challenging her. She fought down her own smile. Hook, line and sinker.

"But then you won't have any to talk to, and you'll look ridiculous when you start talking to yourself, Namagomi!"

"Please, Filia-san." He scoffed. "It is very presumptuous of you to think that I would ever miss talking to you, even if the alternative was talking to the door, which, by the way, very well may turn out to be a better debating partner than you in the long run."

"Alright then, we don't talk from now on!"

"Fine by me!"

"Fine!"

Filia smiled. Silence would be easier to keep than a conversation. Right?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lina growled, shooting the crystal ball a dirty look. She was officially off-duty, seeing how she'd only really agreed to trap the two supernatural beings. It was Amelia and Zel's job to keep them. But she had to admit that it did look like something was going on. They talked a lot more than she had anticipated. And that stunt Xellos just had pulled, whatever it was, had almost seemed… But that probably wasn't the case.

Amelia smiled apologetically to her from her position in the core.

"I am sorry, Lina. I really am. But I can't get sound on it!" she started before the redheaded sorceress could.

"But what the heck just happened? Before they were all talky-talky and now they seem, I dunno, angry at each other?!" said sorceress hissed, gesturing indignantly towards the ball.

"They're always angry at each other." Zel dully remarked, his arms crossed.

"Not like this, they're not!" Lina argued.

"I'm still betting they'll end up killing each other." Zel said. Amelia gave him a stare. The Stare.

"At any rate, I don't think they can keep this up. It's only a matter of time before one of them caves in and starts talking to the other."

"My money says she'll cave first. In an hour or so." Said Lina, confidently.

"I'm guessing longer." Said Zel.

"Less than half an hour!" Amelia exclaimed, fisting her hand and striking a pose as epic as the confined space of the core allowed. "Because love is a feeling so strong that it cannot be denied for longer than half an hour at a time!"

"That sounds like one of your logics alright…" Lina started, but gave up.

Gourry, who again hadn't been joining the discussion much looked up at them, Val in one arm, Ruby in the other.

"I'm thinking about ten minutes. And you might be right about Filia caving first, but I think Xellos will be the first one to actually talk." He said.

"Oh you are such a sucker, Gourry! You're on! We're betting a month of diaper-changing-duty on this one!" Lina shot him her victorious smirk.

Gourry squirmed a little in his seat. Then again, he was usually pretty good at predicting people's emotions, as long as it wasn't anything you needed to think to do. And sometimes thinking about emotions often made it more difficult to figure them out. And since Gourry was quite good at not thinking, he had a natural knack for figuring people out. Instincts, that was what Lina had attributed it to. It really was more of a feeling than an actual thought. Which was also why he so often couldn't rationalize why he was right. But he had learned to trust it.

Either way, he was pretty sure that he was going to change diapers anyways, regardless of the bet. A usual consequence of Lina losing a bet was stereotypically a severe attack of spontaneous and highly selective amnesia.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Xellos looked at the dragoness. Five, maybe ten minutes had passed since they stopped talking, and she was already walking in circles. No doubt the situation was getting to her. If she had reached this point so soon, she'd be very interesting to observe in an hour.

But that was just the trouble, wasn't it? He couldn't just sizzle away and then pop back in an hour or so to check in on her and have a good laugh at her expense. Because he was forced to stay put the very same hour, occupying the very same space, breathing the very same, increasingly uncomfortable air.

And while that most probably still meant that she'd be worthy to laugh at in an hour, he'd most likely not feel very inclined to do so, if he was in any condition to it at all.

This all seemed so surreal. How in the world could anybody take his powers from him? Yes, he knew that they were probably in some parallel existence, a pocket space or something similar, but still. He should be a Mazoku, with Mazoku powers nearly anywhere, anytime and anyplace. And while he still had many of his natural powers, big spells or special Mazoku features were off limits.

And why would this phenomenon show up in Sailrune of all places? It couldn't only be white magic. If it had been, Filia would've been able to go through. And something powerful had to charge it. It seemed unlikely that the royal family of Sailrune would've let a power-source like that go by them. They'd had mages, sages and even a lot of rulers with magical talent. Surely they wouldn't be so blind as to miss a power-source this huge. Especially if that whole fishy story was true, and a member of the royal family indeed had been trapped in here.

He didn't have time to dwell any further on it, as his goldenhaired companion sat down at the table, and slumped over the table, burying her face in her hands. The hopelessness and restlessness she unconsciously excluded was as delicious as ever, but he found himself not really enjoying it. He would have preferred her anger any day.

"Giving up?" he asked, his voice sweet and filled with fake concern. It really was the only way he could get himself to ask what was the matter.

"Would you stop looking at me, it's driving me crazy!!" she all but yelled into the poor surface of the table.

_Silly dragon. Like saying something like that would make me inclined to stop doing it?_ He thought, smiling wickedly. Sometimes she really did make it too easy for him. It made him wonder if she actually liked being irritated and aggravated.

"If you weren't pacing the floor like a wild animal in a cage, believe me I wouldn't, because frankly, there's not much to look at." He said, enjoying how the situation shifted from uncomfortable and stifling to angry and more… usual. "But then again, I suppose you _are_ a wild animal in a cage!"

"And you're caged in with me, so if you don't want _this_ wild animal to tear you into pieces, I suggest you pipe down, Namagomi!" she hissed.

He laughed. She seemed so claustrophobic right now. But at least she was back to angry. It was by far better.

"So violent we are." He sighed, dramatically.

He really loved getting her all worked up. And nutrition played an ever so insignificant part of it. He loved how she bit back at him, never willingly giving him an inch. How she'd get all flustered with anger, and actually, he also liked how she would chase him. Not that any of them was in any doubt who was the stronger of the two, not anymore at least. But somehow it was just decided per convention that she was "allowed" to hit him (or at least swing at him) with Mace-sama. He could stop her any time he wanted. He just never felt like it.

"I am _not_ violent!" she hissed, but sounded to be in a better mood. In a more Filia-ish mood at least, which relived him a little. There were only so many negative emotions he wanted to see her in, and he invariably preferred to be the direct and sole cause of them.

Sometimes that did bother him. He'd been warned that she should never become a liability to him, that one should never become too fond of a toy, in case it got broken or stolen by another Mazoku. He'd surprised himself by reacting with some kind of passive anger, stating in a cheerful voice that if anybody else laid a finger on the Golden he _would_ kill them. Thankfully Filia was also the caregiver of Val, which made her interesting for Lord Beastmaster to keep alive, and thus the threat hadn't been relevant so far.

A throat was cleared behind the door, and as Xellos opened it he found the chimeric consort standing outside. Xellos smiled his most annoying smile. Yes, it must be vexing for the descendant of Rezo that he couldn't get a fair chance to kick some Mazoku ass while Xellos was influenced by this field. And Xellos found that the least he could do was to remind Zelgadis of that, and hopefully twist the knife a little.

"Amelia is still looking for a way out.." Zelgadis said, mainly looking at Filia, his voice not betraying any annoyance. "But I'm afraid we're talking tomorrow at the earliest. I just thought I should warn you."

Filia's head snapped up from the table, looking at Zelgadis, while the message apparently gradually sank in.

"We're working on arrangements for food, but I'm not sure anything can pass the barrier.. Possibly something with little to no life-force in it."

Xellos looked at him, intrigued. Oh? So, they had no idea what this field was, yet the chimera had somehow figured out that dead things could pass? Xellos wondered how he'd come to that conclusion. It seemed like an ineffective shield, if anything inanimate could just pass through. It had to be tested, though.

"What are we talking, something like dried things?" Filia asked, and didn't notice as the Mazoku went behind her to go through her bags.

"Possibly. Fruits are probably out of the question anyways-" Zelgadis said, and only his keen senses saved him from being struck down by a flying Mace-sama. Filia looked wideeyed at her mace, now embedded in the wall across the hall. Zel looked at the mace with disdain, and went away.

"I'll come back with some food later.."

Filia still stared at her mace, mouth wide agape. Xellos looked at it too, enjoying her expression and inwardly counting down to her reaction.

"Well, I suppose he was right." Xellos said, trying to sound like praise was in order, just to ruffle her scales even further.

"XELLOS!!!" she shrieked, as she finally snapped out of it.

Xellos smiled inwardly as he made his innocent-confused look at her. Oh she was gloriously pissed, and he was even rid of her infernal mace. Bonus!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AU:** This is again growing on me. I'm hoping 3 or 4 chapters, but more realistically it'll be 5 or more… =__= I'm no good at short stories. Anyways, let me know how you like it. Also, I'm hoping for a higher update-speed than I had with my last Slayers bit of fun. I apologize for them occasionally being out of character. ;) They're hard to keep in there. If you like it, have suggestions, criticism or comments, please leave a review.

See you soon.


	3. Tense

**AN: ** Alright! We're aiming for no more than 5 chapters. Then they just have to grow a little longer if I can't control my creativity. Oh yes, that's a good way of solving the problem. Don't increase the amount of chapters, increase the length. Oh well, it is one step towards being able to plan out a story and then NOT allowing it to grow due to too much introspection and emotional porn (as a friend of mine so lovingly coined the term).

Also, as some of you have noticed, I tend to make some mistakes i.e. leaving out words, grammar errors, misspellings, awkward use of phrases or words, stuff like that. The reason why this isn't fixed is mainly that I suck reading through something I've written myself._** I**_ know what it's supposed to say, so why wouldn't it say what I think it does? *sigh* Now, if you want to avoid this, I need somebody to volunteer to beta this for me. Anyone up for it? (Anyone knows how it works, btw?)

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers, and I'm sure as heck not making any money on this piece of fiction. ;) Only a whole lot of amusement.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In absence of mace, superhuman strength and teleportation, the brutal retribution for throwing Mace-sama out the door had been reduced to a good chase around the table in the room. It seemed so trivial and stupid, and underlined the childishness of their relation. Xellos ran a little faster, drawing out chairs to stand in her way as he ran around the table. She cursed loudly as she tried to pursue him, with little success. It would've been a lot faster for her just to stop and turn around, but the game wasn't played that way.

With a frustrated growl she stopped and stamped a foot in the floor, hands fisted at her sides. Xellos used this opportunity to fuel the flame by continuing his round, and stopping right behind her, pretending it to be an accident. He could feel her freeze in her position as he kept standing just inches away from her, and fully enjoyed her discomfort. She'd get angry any second now, but the seconds up to her passing that threshold was worth it all. Sometimes he wondered what went through her pretty little head as seconds like these passed.

She was, as always in these strange situations, vaguely excluding an emotion he couldn't quite point down, mainly because she held it back so damn well he could only get a whiff of it. He often found himself curious as to what it really was, but experience with the dragon told him that it was some sort of state she entered into whenever she was wavering between anger and fear.

"I'm terribly sorry, Filia." He said, soft voiced, and willing himself not to let his smirk leak into it. "I didn't expect you to just give up like that."

She was still standing perfectly still, although he could swear she was shaking slightly. Fear? Could be. Hard to tell with the way she kept most of her feelings under wraps from him. Or was she shaking with anger? More likely. He smiled at himself. He could tip the scales either way, and he enjoyed that fact.

Being nearly all-powerful tended to become boring in the long run. But in situations like this he felt empowered again. Like having this sort of power over the dragoness surpassed being able to kill her kind by the thousands with a mere stroke of his hand. She was there, essentially in the palm of his hand, deciding between anger and fear, and he could make the final decision, tipping the scales to best suit himself. He decided to tip them in favor of anger, which he enjoyed seeing on her like a lover might enjoy seeing his beloved in a certain garment.

"But then again, I suppose that is all that you really are good for, Filia. Giving up, I mean."

His tone was seeping with all the sarcasm he'd been itching to put into it before. But when that didn't achieve the desired effect fast enough he decided to take a step back from her, and gently grab her shoulders with both hands. That sent the dragoness soaring back into consciousness, with a vengeance.

"Get your filthy hands off of me, Namagomi!!" She shrieked, twirling around to smack him.

Xellos had temporarily forgotten that he couldn't just teleport away (after all, when you've lived with the gift of instant disappearance for eternity, or what would damn near pass as it, you tended to take little things like that for granted). As her palm connected with his cheek, they both stood wide-eyed in the wake of the ear-piercing smack.

Filia stared at him, panic written clearly all over her face. His hand instinctually reached to rub the abused skin. This was new. This had never happened before, without some sort of deliberate thought behind it. And certainly not in their little "I make you angry, you chase me"-agreement.

Her hand slowly found its way to curl in front of her mouth in a horror-stricken expression.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, as if the shock first really sank in now.

Xellos, feeling a bit besides himself only dismissed the apology with a wave of a hand and a quiet "No need.", as he sat down at the table. The silence became mutually awkward. Even Xellos would have to agree that they could both do with a good cup of tea after this life-altering experience.

Filia stood a while, wringing her hands and looking split between furious, panicked and concerned. Then she started pacing, slightly, and after a while, apparently needing to do something to occupy herself, she started to unpack. She dragged the huge bag up on the bed with less ease than usual. The extra strain would've gone unnoticed by most, seeing how she really was insanely strong even without her magical dragon strength.

As Filia unpacked, Xellos looked over her belongings. A lot of very girly and feminine gowns and accessories. Especially ribbons in rose and pink colors. The simple action brought a bit of normality into the strained situation. Not exactly their kind of "normal", but this more universal form of normality was at any rate better than the universal kind of awkwardness the air had been filled with.

"Aren't you going to unpack too?" she asked, but then took a look around the room and probably concluded, correctly, that he'd had been traveling very light, since he could just pull wished belongings from nothingness. But not now. Nothingness was not accessible to him in here.

"If you want, I could borrow you a set of spare clothes." She said, her tone mocking, but not looking at him as she laid a new gown out on the bed before going to fetch hangers in the closet.

He smiled, slyly. She'd given him a window of opportunity to reclaim their "normal" status, and he would be a fool not to plunge through it. Besides, she was making it a lot easier for him than she'd probably intended, which made it even more interesting. If she'd only joined the group a year before, she'd know that he wasn't one to be too proud or insecure to wear a dress. He'd in fact looked quite convincing (or at least more convincing than Lina, although that, arguably, wasn't saying much) when they had to sneak into Femille.

"You don't want to do that, Filia." He smiled, knowing that what he was about to say would shake her up a bit. "You might not want to wear that dress again afterwards."

She looked at him, a little surprised perhaps that he didn't just flat out dismiss the offer. She the scoffed and stuck her nose in the air.

"You're right. I'd probably end up burning it, seeing how there'd been a filthy Mazoku in it!" she made a dramatic sniffle. "Not to mention the mental scars it would inflict!"

He recognized the teasing, overdramatic tone. She must have picked it up from him along the way, but that wouldn't help her. He'd been playing this sort of game longer and better than she could ever hope to.

"Yes. You'd probably end up suffering from serious self-esteem issues afterwards, since I in all likelihood will look far sexier and more elegant than you wearing it."

It was only meant to irate her, and it certainly seemed to achieve that.

"You.. you pervert!" she hissed, her cheeks flaring a bit. Oh how he enjoyed that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Amelia sighed relieved as she switched places with Zelgadis in the core. She hadn't expected it to be this exhausting. But she supposed it was better that it drained a little too much than a little too little. If they could get out, they would. Things weren't exactly progressing at the speed she'd expected, but then again, Zelgadis had said that she was a wee bit of an optimist at times.

She took a moment to look at the crystal ball, then looked herself over in the mirror, trying to freshen up a bit, took the tray (Which Gourry and Lina thankfully hadn't ravaged) and headed towards the door with purposeful strides.

"Remember I'll be sitting here, and I can't come to your rescue." Zel remarked before she opened the door out of the control-room.

"I know. I'll try to steer clear of lying and go for "not telling the truth" instead, just like you said!" She smiled happily at him.

She supposed it was a terrible thing for her to be so excited about him tutoring her in the not-so-glorious art of subterfuge, but then again, it would serve her well in situations like these. And less severe cases of course, as in diplomatic cases, or other problems that didn't involve locking up two forces of nature, against their will (!), in a little container and shaking it.

And bending the truth instead of outright lying was something she seemed to have a knack for. Zel had claimed that she'd been mastering bending the truth to fit her sense of justice, but that wasn't true at all. If something was true then it was also just, and so it followed that something that was just was also true! However, it was true that when she thought of it that way, it was far easier to hide the truth.

"Good. The last thing we want is them catching on." Zel mumbled, apparently mostly to himself. With a happy nod Amelia was out the door.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Filia was beginning to grow hungry. She could feel her stomach gently rumbling, and hoped it wasn't loud enough to alert the room's other occupant. He'd only laugh, the bastard. It wasn't fair, she noted sourly. He was well fed by her negative energies, but she, on the other hand, had exhausted herself by getting angry time and again, and had gotten nothing to eat since her shopping-trip with Amelia earlier on the day. And that hadn't even been very much. No tea either.

Her stomach gave a loud groan, and she clamped her hands around it, as if trying to silence it. Xellos looked up from the book he'd taken to reading since her last Mazoku-boycott. He smiled, smugly. She glared. She was just about to rant on about the unfairness of the situation when he spoke up.

"Don't worry, Filia. Food is on the way." He said simply, and returned his eyes to the book.

"How do you know that?" she hissed more than asked, glaring at him. Now he was acting all superior again, and it was getting on her nerves more than usual, mostly because she didn't feel entirely on top of the situation.

"Just a feeling."

There was a knock on the door.

Grudgingly she got up and opened it. Amelia was beaming happily behind it. Oh… Amelia's happiness was probably overwhelming enough for him to be able to sense it on a distance. Filia worked up the energy to smile, which became a lot easier when she spotted the tray in Amelia's arms.

"How are you doing?" she asked. Before either could answer she continued. "I've brought up some dried vegetables and fruits, and hopefully this bread will be able to pass too. I'm sorry, but I didn't bring anything for you, Xellos-san."

"I'm well taken care of, I assure you." He said, politely, nodding from behind the book. Filia noticed that his voice was a little strained, and she figured that Amelia's unabashed happiness was not only seeping through her mind to her face, but overflowing the entire room and hallway, and drowning everybody in its happy wakes.

"Any progress on getting us out of here?" Filia asked.

Amelia looked positively blank for a second or two.

"We're no further than we were before." She said, eventually.

Filia sighed. Well, it would have been too much to hope for.

Amelia settled the tray on the floor, and tried, gently, to push it through. Something wouldn't let it pass, and she methodically tried removing one thing, trying, and repeating until she found the offending item. In the meantime Filia tried to make conversation.

"So, any clue as to what it is?" Filia asked. She was met by another silence, and Amelia seemed very focused on trying to figure out which of the things on the tray was blocking it.

"I.. I think we have a very good idea of it, yes." She answered, slowly.

"Oh, great! Maybe I can help." Filia suggested, trying to be helpful. She wasn't an expert on barriers, but she knew more than most, and she was just about ready to try anything that might get her out of this.

"Yes, possibly." Amelia said. Filia stared at her. She really had to be consumed by finding out what wouldn't pass the barrier, because she didn't add anything to that statement.

"Soo.. Can you perhaps tell me a little more about it?" Filia prodded. When that was met by a little silence she added: "Like, why it might be here, or how it works or something like that?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I said." Amelia answered. "Aha! Sorry, Filia. You can't have the wine, for some reason it won't go through. But water seems to be possible."

She got up, and smiled, although looking like she was in a hurry.

"I hope that will be enough. I'll come back tomorrow, okay?"

Filia was struck dumb, trying to find her words. She was just leaving? Without entertaining Filia, without staying around to offer some real conversation, some interaction that wasn't just civilized scratching and biting at each others' throats? What was the hurry? She shot a glare to the Namagomi, but he wasn't looking at them, so Amelia couldn't have felt threatened.

"Goodnight!" she said, and waved. "Sleep tight."

It was in all probability what Amelia always said when she greeted a friend goodnight, but the sentence spurred a line of thought in the dragoness that she didn't at all like. She looked around the room, wideeyed. That's right. It was getting late. They wouldn't be let out tonight. And there was only one bed…! If they both had to sleep on it they would have to sleep tight.

Xellos peered at her over the edge of the book.

"Thank lords she left! I wonder what she was so happy about.." he mused, possibly most to himself. "Still she was acting strange, and.. Filia?"

Her wide, panicked eyes snapped to him, then darted to the bed.

"The bed is **mine** and I am _not_ sharing it!" she hissed, and walked to sit on it with her tray.

He looked puzzled and surprised.

"You can sleep on the floor, Namagomi!"

He cocked his head to a side. Apparently he hadn't thought of this either. Then, to her aggravation, he smiled.

"Silly little dragon." He chided more than said. "I thought you'd realized by now that we Mazoku hardly ever sleep."

"Really?" she asked, her voice edged with skepticism.

"Really." He assured her, giving her a face that was just sufficiently honest for her to know that he wasn't trying to play innocent about anything. "Oh we _can_ sleep, just like we can eat or drink for that matter. It's not like we're incapable of sleeping, but where's the point if you don't have to? I usually only sleep when I'm bored, and around you being bored is… a rarity."

She looked at him, but couldn't find any traces of untruthfulness in his voice or face.

"Evil never sleeps, huh? Never knew it was so literally true." She mused, with a little bittersweet smile. She sat down at the big table with her tray and began to eat. Then she froze. If he wasn't going to sleep then what was he going to do? Read all night? Look at her in her sleep? She'd go crazy! She knew she couldn't bear to have his eyes on her for long usually, and the thought of him looking at her while she slept was… not something she wanted to think about, really.

She looked at him. If she asked what he was going to do while she slept, he wouldn't answer. Or even worse, make a comment that would make her believe that he'd do something to her, just to deprive her of a peaceful sleep. Oh yes, and he would. Because it would make her even more cranky and irritable, and that, in turn, would make her an easier target for his favourite game of "pissing off the dragoness". So not knowing what he was going to do was perhaps not the optimal solution, but at the very least she wouldn't be intentionally provoked into thinking something really bad was awaiting her in her sleep, and sometimes, just as he had said, it's better not to know.

Filia sighed loudly as she bit down on a dried piece of apple with honey dripped across it. She thought for a moment that certainly things couldn't get much worse than this.

Turned out she was wrong.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lina stuck her head into the control room. Amelia was watching the crystal ball intensely, and Zelgadis was sitting in the core, trying to look as if he didn't care, while stealing glances at the ball from time to time. Well, Lina had to admit, it was a little exciting. Yesterday she could have sworn that the sparks that flew between the Mazoku and the Ryuzoku were simply sparks that would ignite the explosion, but now it sure did seem like there was something else there.

"So, what's the status?" she asked, looking at Amelia.

"Nothing yet. But they're at least still talking." Amelia answered, staring at the ball with a concentrated look. Perhaps she was trying to read their lips. Or perhaps she was hoping that if she stared intently enough at it, things would spontaneously turn lovey-dovey.

"Most likely nothing will happen until tomorrow, Lina, so just go to bed already." Zel commented.

"On the contrary, Zel, things might start to heat up now!" the redheaded sorceress said with her wicked grin.

"Why? It's night." Zel argued.

"Exactly! And the way I see it, there's only one way it can go because there's only one bed!" Lina chuckled, and she and Amelia shared a look before both bursting out in girlish giggles. Zel sighed. "You thought that one out well, Amelia!" Lina praised.

The Sailrune heiress gleamed with the praise. Their eyes darted to Zelgadis, and when they saw that he was looking a little puzzled, Amelia felt like elaborating.

"There's only one bed in the room, which means that they'll have to share it!" She enthusiastically explained.

"And what better way to bring them closer together?" Lina grinned evilly.

"Except for the part about Mazoku not needing sleep, I suppose." Zel droned. Both girls' eyes snapped to him. "What? You didn't know that?"

Two pairs of eyes, one blue and one red, narrowed at him. Lina fisted her hands. Why hadn't the stupid chimera told them this before!? It had obviously been part of Amelia's plan. Everybody knew that physical closeness to another person was a good way to open up to that person. Of course none of them would have been expecting them to start something serious, but a brush of a hand, an accidental touch, these things really did help speeding up the process.

Lina inwardly cursed herself, too. She'd known this too, most likely, she'd only forgotten it, probably because this bit of information fitted so very badly with the rest of the plan. Possibly Amelia had done the same. Well, that probably meant that there was no way of shortcutting it. They'd just have to wait and hope that Amelia's intuition wasn't entirely off.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This has to be the worst day of my life…" Filia mumbled, leaning back on the bed.

Xellos looked over at her from his seat at the desk. Well, he did get a sort of hopeless vibe off of her, but nothing near the despair he'd seen her in a couple of times before. Not even remotely as emotionally hollowed as some of the days where she'd initially been confronted with her people's bloodstained history, the guilt-trip from hell and all the nonsense concerning Valgaarv.

So no, in his experience alone this could only be her sixth or seventh worst day, and making a qualified guess, he ventured that this would only barely rank on a top 50 of "worst days" if evened out over the entire day and compared with the average shittiness of other days in the entire course of her life.

Still, he got her point.

"Is it really that bad?" he asked, hoping that she'd get annoyed. He loved the way she'd bare her fangs in a sneer, and the way her eyes would flash with anger. Just as he'd hoped, her head snapped to look at him, golden cascades of hair whipping around her face as she did so.

"Yes! Yes, it is, Xellos!" she growled, getting up from the bed, and gesticulating wildly with her hands. "I'm here, being locked in with the one person I'd hate the most to spend time with in a confined space, I've been robbed of everything that I enjoy; silence, privacy, calmness, Val and tea! I'm being used as your dinner and entertainment, and I don't even know how long we'll have to stay like this!! I can't take it anymore! I'll suffocate if I'm not being let out soon!"

"The universe must hate you, then, if it's really all that bad." Xellos said.

"Well, yes! I mean, who knows? It sure feels that way!" She ran a hand through her golden locks with a frustrated growl.

"You must have done something really bad then, to deserve such bad karma." He said, his voice not entirely free of sarcasm. "A pity I wasn't there when it happened. I would quite have enjoyed seeing a less prudish and prudent Gold." He refrained from making remarks on any kind of action her race might have committed that could result in some serious bad karma. Some blows were too low, some victories so easy they didn't even feel like you've won at all.

"You know.." she tapped her chin thoughtfully, then turned to face him, waving a finger accusingly at him "..maybe you were! Maybe this is because I let you talk me into meddling with Amelia and Zelgadis's relationship! Maybe it's the universe's punishment for us meddling with the fate of other people. But I just don't get it. I did so very little. I only told you about the bracelet, and helped you keep watch while they sorted it out themselves. It's hardly a crime the universe should feel the need to punish so harshly!"

Xellos looked at her for a moment. That did make sort of sense, to him. But instead of saying "universe" he'd probably switch the word with "the future rulers of Sailrune", which was just as effective but a lot less cosmic.

Filia walked into the adjoining bathroom, taking a very pink nightgown with her.

"At any rate, I'm going to get some sleep, and I hope, that when I wake up, you'll be gone like any other nightmare!" She said, and probably went out to change. This left Xellos with a little while to think.

The others knew that he'd been involved, as stonface and happy-girl had confronted him directly with that more than once afterwards. He wasn't so sure how they knew about Filia, but perhaps this was some sort of punishment, solely to him. Not that he could figure out why they'd go so far, especially involving Filia.

And even if they knew that she'd been involved, and this indeed was a joint punishment, it seemed very unfair to him. After all, hadn't it all turned out sickeningly well for them in the end? If it hadn't been for their meddling, Amelia and Zelgadis probably wouldn't have ended up together like this. Ungrateful bastards.

And how did they keep them in here, anyways? It was a scary thought that humans had invented a way to hold and neutralize Mazoku and Ryuzuku alike. But that would have to wait. Now it was more important to get out of here. They had some purpose in mind that he couldn't quite figure out, but he wasn't going to stay to find out!

_If they are controlling this, then they must somehow also be keeping taps on us. And if they are then it should be possible for me to force them to drop the barrier!_ Xellos thought.

He knew that it would be very unwise to start throwing spells, and in all likelihood it wouldn't do a lick of difference, because any greater spells were naturally off limits for him at the moment.

He could threaten to kill (or just plain out kill) Filia, but that would be throwing away a perfectly good toy, either way. Certainly if Filia felt he seriously wanted to kill her, she'd be too scared to come near him again, and then it would be just the same as actually killing her, from his vantage point anyways. So murder was obviously not the ideal means to put pressure on their jail-keepers.

However, there were some things he was pretty certain that the white priestess with the justice-fetish wouldn't allow him to do (or attempt to do) to her fellow priestess. Of course, if they knew that he was doing this to get them to drop the barrier and intervene, they probably wouldn't react, calling his bluff. So it was better if it seemed real, and that, unfortunately, meant not informing the dragon.

He looked at his goldenhaired companion as she stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in a nightgown decent in design but almost indecent in its blatant pinkness. Then again, he supposed he could forgive the pinkness, seeing how it actually suited her quite well. If only he could get her cheeks flushed to match, and he was pretty certain he could, and that they would, very soon, with anger if nothing else. Well, she wanted out; she'd said as much. And he wanted out, because this was getting increasingly strange and frustrating for him too, not being able to just phase in and out of reality. And he could, in all probability get them out, although he was pretty sure she wouldn't quite appreciate the method. He could only hope that he in this weakened form still was stronger than her. Otherwise he'd get completely thumped for trying. But it was worth a try.

He caught her arm as she went past him to get to the bed behind him.

"Not so fast, little golden one." He said, sugary sweet, and yanked the arm so that she twirled and was caught flush against him. The shock in her eyes was delicious, and as he drank it all in he smiled evilly to himself. Oh yes, it was certainly worth a try!

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**AN: **I've been asked if this one suddenly turns M-rated like my other fic did. It isn't really my plan, but I'm open to suggestions.

The other fic turned M-rated because it was planned that way (as I also advertised in the description) and hence, certain key-points just had to be totally rethought if it had to move the same way through another path.

This one I have no real plans for, apart from the general story flow. And none of the key-parts involve anything that has to be any heavier than T-rated. So, what are you saying?


	4. Tricked

**AN:** Alright. I'll not let it go M-rated, at least not really M, if I can possibly prevent it. It was hard, and took an awful lot of cutting, because it seems my mind is at home in the gutter.

But I promise that when it's over I might make an M-rated X/F. Just as I'll finish off Real Roses Have Thorns with an M-rated epilogue, following things through, as it were. This way I can keep most smuttyness out of this one too, hopefully.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Hey you guys! We've got action!" yelled Amelia out on the hallway.

A half grumpy-half hurried Lina stuck out her head from her and Gourry's room. Gourry followed afterwards, with Ruby sleeping in his arms, not looking at all awake. He could have been sleepwalking for all Amelia knew, because with his reflexes, it'd be hard to know the difference.

Amelia had reacted very quickly (mainly because Lina had threatened, that if she missed out on a single bit of romantic action, she'd Dragonslave the Princess for her laziness!), and hoped, as she turned her gaze to the crystal ball, that it really happened to be the case. They were standing very close, Filia practically up against his chest, so it had to qualify as some kind of action at least.

She really wished she could have had some sound on it. Of course not out of curiosity, because it would be very unjust to eavesdrop and spy like this, but more to… make sure that things went the way they should. The right way. The just way. Making sure that Love and Justice prevailed, and stuff like that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Filia stood as if rooted to the floor. She couldn't believe this was happening, or perhaps more accurately it seemed that it was happening too fast, and that her mind simply couldn't catch up with the experience. The gloved hand that still held her by the elbow hadn't lessened its grip. The feel of his chest pressed against her own made her shiver. Involuntarily of course!

Another gloved hand came up, and tugged a stand of hair behind her ear, and continued to stroke the hair all the way down a couple of times before coming to rest upon the small of her back. All her hairs were standing on end, and she could feel her tail starting to tremble.

"You know, Filia-san.." he started, his voice as silk; seemingly soft, but treacherously strong. "You often were afraid.. of me.. whenever we were left alone.. with each other." The hand on her elbow started to travel up her arm, gently caressing it. "I can't help wondering, what it was you were afraid that I'd do.. to you."

His voice indicated that he at least had a damn good idea of what she might fear, or at least what he thought she feared. And now he was playing that fear like an instrument, and she didn't like tune at all, although she felt herself swaying to it none the less.

His violet eyes looked straight into her, and she found that she was getting slightly dizzy, though told herself that this was just because she was tired, and had been spun around so unexpectedly and violently. She tried to look away, but the gloved finger caressing her upper arm quickly flew to her chin, raising it.

_He doesn't mean anything by it. He's trying to get you riled up! He's probably looking for a late night snack, and your anger seems to be his favorite meal!_ She told herself. _Don't let him get to you!_

But still, she couldn't help noticing that he didn't seem to be trying to anger her. Apart from his hands on her, which should, by any right, flare her rage (and it would! - in a moment, the back of her mind promised her), he wasn't actively trying to push any of the angry-buttons. He wasn't dropping snide remarks as to what a bore, prude, looser or hypocrite she was. And right now he wasn't stirring any of her rage. He was only mildly brushing her fear.. and something else.

"Is it something like this, I wonder." He continued, leaning closer, still holding her in place with the hand on the small of her back, as his lips graced over the shell of her ear. His breath tickled her, and yet, shivering, laughing and telling him so was about the last thing she was about to do. She just stood still, frozen, not daring to breathe, and with her heart drumming fast.

As he opened his mouth and caught the top of her ear between his lips in a very soft bite, her heart leaped in her throat, and the breath that she'd been keeping came out as a yelp. She could feel the lips quirk into a smirk, and knew somewhere in her mind that this should aggravate her to no end. However, she couldn't get a hold of enough thoughts to manage getting pissed. Her mouth was agape, and her brain was trying desperately to find some words, but had somehow forgotten where it'd stored them.

The hand on her back was starting to draw circles, and with each arc dipped deeper and deeper, eventually brushing the top of her rear, on that sensitive spot where her tail met the rest of her spinal-cord. The other hand had slipped from her chin to rest in her hair, at the nape of her neck. All in all he had a pretty good grip on her, and made a point to show this, by tugging her towards him even further. She felt the urge to bolt, but her mind was still on a zero-success search for words, and thus had no time for operating her feet.

"Or is it perhaps more something like this?" he asked, viciously, as he dipped to place an openmouthed kiss on the nape of her neck. Unwillingly she tilted her head back, as her breath left her mouth in shock, not a moan or a sigh! Definitely not a moan or a sigh! His one leg slid between hers, and he lifted it so that his knee pressed between her thighs.

This was too much, a voice in her mind screamed at her, begging her to take some sort of (preferably violent) action.

_Tell him that he has to stop. Just place your hands on his shoulders, and push him away. Tell him "Xellos, what the hell do you think you're doing?!", and get out of this!_ The voice screamed.

She managed the first halves of her two strategies. Sluggishly she managed to place her hands on his shoulders, but couldn't quite manage a push. Also, she managed to breath "Xellos…" but the rest of the sentence was left unsaid. She looked into those dangerously violet eyes and forgot the rest instantly.

_There's some kind of magic in this._ She thought. _He's cheating, I know he is! I'm not like this! I am not! Although this does feel good, but.. He doesn't mean anything by it! He's trying to get to you, somehow. This is just a new game!... and even if it wasn't it'd still be wrong!!_

The last thought was just sufficiently delayed for her to feel utterly lost and hypocritical.

His hand skimmed down her side and up again, eventually brushing a thumb against the lower arc of the swell of her breast. She gasped as she was reminded that the only thing she was wearing underneath her panties. The silken fabric suddenly felt a lot more erotic than she'd imagined it would when she'd bought it with Amelia, just earlier the same day. She hated herself from squirming in his grasp, hoping that the hand would perhaps touch her some more.

This wasn't how she was supposed to be reacting, she knew that! But somehow she just couldn't seem to fight it.

The other hand came to rest on the lower arc of her hip, and clamped down with some sort of dominating force, not enough to hurt her, but definitely enough to mark that she wouldn't be able to get out of the embrace. She got the message.

_The nerve of that..Slap him one! No, wait a sec.. He's after the anger! Don't give it to him!_ She thought, somehow convincing herself that she was at least fighting him on some, higher level, when in fact it felt like she wasn't fighting him at all.

"Or perhaps you even fear I'd do something like this?" he asked, maliciously, as the hand that up to now had only graced the breast finally came to outright grab it, massaging it through the fabric, and his knee finally pressed all the way against her crotch. She arched back as the unfamiliar sensation rolled through her, her legs nearly giving out on her. She was vaguely aware of the wall behind her, as her head scraped against it, as she leaned it back, baring her throat (against all instincts) to him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"This isn't right!" Amelia shouted, shocked and with her cheeks burning brightly.

"It seems like there's… something happening, though." Lina inferred, although she looked like the embarrassment would cause her to fireball something any minute now.

"Well, yes, but this wasn't what was supposed to happen!" Amelia cried, the hint of despair marring her pretty features. "This isn't how it's supposed to go!"

"Then how would you like it to go?!" Lina asked, a little growl to her voice. "If this doesn't prove some kind of interest, I don't know what will!?"

Gourry stared sleepily at the ball.

"Love most often leads to sex, but I don't think sex necessarily leads to love." He said, managing to sound like a lewd fortune-cookie.

Lina's eyes flared, and she turned to her husband, looking ready to either yell at him, hit him or fireball him. She apparently spotted her daughter, and took her from her husband's arm with great care. She gave Ruby a kiss on the forehead, before turning back to Gourry, smacking him upside his head with a slipper.

"You foulmouthed, perverted, ignorant jellyfish!!" she shrieked, as she slapped him a good one on the shoulder too. "Why would you say such a thing in the presence of two delicate ladies!? Not to mention your own child!!"

Amelia, blushing, cleared her throat.

"Well, yes, but, that actually was my concern.." she admitted.

"You're right. This could mean anything, or nothing at all. We can't say what he really intends to do about this, nor what feelings he might be reacting upon." Zelgadis said, using logic and a cool, clear way of reasoning to avoid being caught up in the embarrassment of the topic. "Still, Lina had a point about the.. show of interest."

"But you just said that we couldn't know what it meant!" Amelia sounded confused, pouting slightly.

"The point is that we can't." He explained. "You're right, this isn't what we're hoping for. If they… get together like this… I think we can all agree that there would be no guarantee that love was involved in this, and hence it would be silly to let them out. But it still raises the question: When _would_ you let them out?" Zel insisted.

It seemed like none of them had thought of this. When was it really enough? When they held hands? When they kissed and gazed lovingly into each other's eyes? If Xellos were to spontaneously propose to the dragoness? When would it be enough? What would prove that they were together, that there was actually any love there?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Xellos' smile broadened. She could feel it against the skin on her throat.

"My, my, Filia. I dare say I rather think you're enjoying this.." he said, his voice as smooth and as venomous as a snake.

Filia tried to keep her emotions from surfacing, but could only manage to contain some of them. It wouldn't be good if he could read her now. Although she wasn't in any doubt that she was pretty obviously enjoying his attentions, and that there was no way of hiding that, bar flat out stopping him. Something she found herself unable to do.

"I am not." She managed in a trembling voice, but it didn't sound convincing, and it didn't even sound like she herself believed it, either.

"Doesn't that make you ashamed?" he asked in her ear, ignoring her unconvincing retort, with a voice dripping with malice, as he pressed her against the wall. A hand venturing down her thigh, underneath the hem of the dress, only to wander up to cup her rear. She knew she should be outraged by this. She knew that somewhere, deep inside of her, there was the usual urge to punch him into the next dimension, but this urge was slowly drifting deeper and deeper, until she lost sight of it.

Her hands had found their way from his shoulders into his purple locks, which seemed to be a grave mistake. He caught her wrists, flashing her a vicious grin, and flipped her over, so that her hands were on the wall, him still holding her wrists in place against it, and leaning in over her. He then collected her wrists in one hand, leaving his other hand free to grab her around the mid-section and tug her violently against him.

"Or perhaps it even excites you?" he said, and she could swear there was barely any voice there. The thick atmosphere of the night seemed to leave his breath hanging in the air, so that she could sense the words, rather than hear them. "To have a filthy Mazoku like me touch you like this." He nibbled at her neck and shoulder blade, exposed from the nightie, which was hanging oddly on her, bunched up around her waist, as her tail was raised highly. She was even further ashamed by the fact that she found herself squirming, not out of discomfort as much as in a hope to receive more of attentions. When nothing really happened, or at least didn't happen fast enough, she could find it in her to spit a comment at him.

"It doesn't." she objected halfheartedly, irked by the fact that her voice almost sounded meek and demure.

"Is that so?" he asked, voice soaked with sarcasm. "You're lying! But then again, you're a Golden. You're a liar, a hypocrite and most importantly; you're weak! You're no match for me, Filia. I could take you right now and you wouldn't put up much of a fight! I could take all that innocence and purity right away from you, and you couldn't do a damn thing about it!"

A voice inside Filia's head conceded that this was in fact the case, but by the way he spoke the words, he hadn't realized how they were true, or even if they were true at all. It sounded more like he believed them to aggravate her rather than to reflect any truth.

"You wouldn't dare, Namagomi!" she bit out, half hoping it would sound defiant, half hoping it would spite him, but also fully knowing he'd take it as a challenge.

"Wouldn't I, Filia?" he asked, the hand from her mid-section coming up to fisting a handful of golden locks and yanking her head back forcefully, but not overly so. This was all a matter of dominance. And she hated to admit that she was dominated. But what hurt even more to admit was the fact that she somehow liked it.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The girls exchanged glances, then looked from the ball to the door.

"He's bluffing!" called out the chimera from the core.

Lina shot him a glare.

"Bluffing how and bluffing why?!" she asked, her voice indicating that the chimera better have a damn good and believable hypothesis.

"He's testing if we're in charge of this, I'm certain." He said, and Amelia was calmed down a bit by this. "If he really did want to.. do that to her, this would be the least effective way to attain that goal."

"It sure doesn't look ineffective!" Lina barked, but not as threatening and growling as before.

"Think about it! Why now where he's got nearly no power? Why so aggressively that it's only a matter of time before she starts fighting back with all her might?" Zel calmly explained. "It's almost as if he's trying to provoke her into fighting back and causing a scene. I'm telling you, he's trying to either scare her or make us come to her rescue!"

"What kind of emotional moron would pin a girl to the wall and- and- and do such a thing just to prove a point!?" Lina exclaimed, her hands gesticulating wildly towards the ball.

Amelia and Zelgadis shared a glance, then made sure that not to make eye-contact with the sorceress. Only Gourry seemed to notice this, and opened his mouth to comment, when Amelia managed to cut him off.

"Aaanyways… Let's keep our collective cool and see how it goes, shall we?" Amelia suggested, nervously. She really wished they could have gotten sound on the ball. It would have been so much easier if they could hear what they were saying to each other, because right now, she couldn't quite tell if Filia was struggling or participating. Then again, taking another glance at the ball, Amelia was pretty sure Filia didn't even know that herself.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Having a hand fisted in her hair left Xellos with a lot of power over her. First of all, she couldn't really run, because one might wrestle out of a grip around the waist or shoulders, but the hair would be pretty damn hard to disentangle from his grasp in a hurried escape-attempt. Second of all, he could "steer" her around the room, without much trouble. He forced her to walk to the table in the middle of the room, and pressed her down against it, her chin and chest pressed against the cold surface.

She found that she was panting. This was really bad, her inner voice told her. And yet, somehow, she couldn't help noticing the great care he took in being gentle about looking forceful. Not one single lock of hair was being pulled to the point where it hurt, but she was pretty sure it looked like it.

She couldn't quite see him, as he was leaning in over her from behind, but she was certain he was smirking evilly, probably with both his eyes open.

"Do you fear I'd take you?" he asked, as freed himself of his cape with the one hand. The clasp clattered as it fell to the floor. Getting out of his blouse was a little harder, but he managed without having to let go of the hair for very long, switching one hand with the other. As he leaned in over her again to whisper in her ear, she could feel his naked chest against her shoulder blades. "Or do you fear even more… that you will _like_ it, my little, _helpless_ Gold!?"

The way he'd said it was not supposed to make her shiver deliciously with anticipation, she was pretty sure of that! Nor was she supposed to be so… unconcerned about it.

_This is so unreal!_ She thought._ I don't understand any of this! I know what this is supposed to look like and I can guess what it is supposed to feel like, and yet, I'm actually lying here, not fighting back at all! I can't help feeling that I'm _supposed_ to be kicking and screaming, but… I'm not._

She simply couldn't put down why. If anything it was the strange feeling of connectedness with the Mazoku. She felt she knew how his mind worked, and she couldn't help feeling that he'd never just take advantage of her like this, not without some other motive, not without warning, and certainly not without telling her why, so that she might agonize over her terrible fate.

She didn't know what he thought of her, but she _did_ know that she was vastly entertaining to him, and this just seemed like such a.. boring way to throw away all the friendly enmity they had build up so far. It was almost like this couldn't be happening. And yet, the hand sliding up her thigh told her otherwise.

He'd pressed a leg between hers, and was using his knee to force hers apart. To her great indignation, she simply shifted her position, obediently moving to stand with her feet a bit apart, still bend over the table. Why was it she couldn't take this seriously? Did she really want this to happen?

Sure, she was attracted to the Mazoku, and it would seem even more foolish to try to deny it to herself now, but she'd been afraid of something like this. She'd been so scared that he might start toying with her like this, but mainly because she was afraid he'd stop. She feared most of all that he'd see right through her, notice how she felt, and laugh at her for being such a silly and conceited dragon, to think that he would have any such interest in her.

So yes, this situation should scare her witless, if not for the reasons he thought then for others, but it didn't. Even as his naked arm wrapped around her mid-section, pulling her up against his chest, and the hand previously in the hair found its way to press her hips back against his. She merely whimpered at the sensation, and hated herself for enjoying this more intimate embrace.

"What's the matter, dragon? All out of fighting spirit?" his voice was filled with mock-concern and sing-song-sarcasm. "I suppose you wouldn't mind if I finish this, then?!"

Xellos made a gesture towards the light, and the window, and suddenly everything became totally pitch-black.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The crystal ball went black. Lina and Amelia shared a frustrated "NO!" and started glaring at the ball. Lina smacked it for good measures, but it didn't help.

"Is it dead?" Gourry asked, keeping a healthy safety distance to the two frustrated magic-useresses. He'd gotten Ruby back, and was currently standing, so that he could shield her from whatever outburst Lina would come with. Not that he for a moment thought Lina would actually fire anything at him while he was holding her, though.

"No! It should be working just fine!" Amelia whined, channeling new magic into the ball.

"How did this happen? Did he cut the link? Or did he turn out the lights?!" Lina asked, like somebody might ask why the screen is dead, in the hope that the mere action of voicing the correct answer might magically return it to working condition.

"He's bluffing. I'm certain he is." said Zel from his seat in the core, sticking to the only important fact in this situation. _How_ Xellos did it was irrelevant. What mattered was the _why_. "He's trying to make us loose contact with the room, so that we'll assume the worst. And he knows we will!"

Filia's shriek echoed in the control room.

"Hey! You managed to get sound on it?!" Lina asked, eyes wide and the smile not entirely unlike a proud parent as she looked at Amelia. "Great! Now, get the picture back on!"

The shriek faded but managed to return as an ear-splitting scream, laced thickly with fear.

Amelia's expression said it all though.

"Um.. no… I didn't do anything. That was from the building…"

They were standing still for a second, looking at each other. Then the girls sprinted towards the door.

"He's still bluffing!" Insisted Zel. "If you run out there it'll all be over!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Xellos had indeed turned off the lights, but had also cast a darkness spell in the room, although he was pretty certain the dragoness hadn't got the foggiest as to why.

"Scream for me, Filia!" he had whispered in a voice that was an odd mix of seductive and demanding. And she'd obeyed.

She shrieked, starting low-pitched and ashamed.

"Louder!" he demanded, although not very loud himself, in case their captors could hear the room.

The shriek turned high-pitched and loud until it echoed in the hallways.

"One more time. With.. feeling." He said, and flipped her around to meet his flaringly violet eyes. He let a little of the fear he'd collected seep back into her, keeping eye contact to make sure she absorbed it, and he could see how it welled up in her, so unbearable that she would have screamed regardless of his request. He could have demanded anything of her in the same situation, and she'd still have screamed.

He waited a little in the darkness. He gave it a minute, and Filia was beginning to return from the panic-attack, held in place against his naked chest by his arms around her. Nothing happened. No sound of feet running, and the field was still there. Had he been wrong in his assumption?

"Hmm. Seems like nobody's coming to your rescue." He said, looking at the door, something that would have been impossible if it hadn't been for his perfect night-vision. "It would appear they aren't controlling this after all, then."

He let go of her, and she looked positively confused and ruffled, standing alone in the total darkness, and steadying herself on the table and a chair. He fought the urge to smile, because for all that messed up hair and perplexed gaze, she really did look amazingly well.

As he felt the rush of power ebb away, he felt an odd emptiness surface instead. There'd been something missing, and she hadn't been reacting like he'd imagined she would.

The magical darkness was clearing out now, and the moon shone in through the window. Xellos sat back on a chair, not looking at her. He was pretty sure that the plan had served its purpose, and if indeed the others had had any power over this situation, they'd have come to her rescue. But still, it hadn't gone down the way he'd planned it. First of all, he hadn't planned on taking it this far. He'd thought she'd fight back. Oh sure, she'd come up with a "you wouldn't dare!"-statement, but really, that hadn't been any kind of real resistance. She hadn't even tried to prevent him from holding her down, nor to wrestle free of his grip, or even to slap him. At the very least when he'd repeatedly claimed that she'd liked it, he'd expected some sort of fight, because this was, after all, Filia. Prudish, little Filia, who wouldn't stand for that kind of attention, and certainly not from _him_!

And yet, she'd let him.

He didn't know why it had annoyed him so.

It's not as though he didn't find some sort of satisfaction in her fearing him, but at the same time, he couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed. He invariably preferred her fighting him back, as if they were equals. He somehow felt that she usually was above groveling in front of him, which was one of the things he liked about her. She wasn't afraid to snap back at him, or even to try to hit him. She battled him constantly, although futilely, and he'd gotten so used to it that this lack of fighting spirit actually… unnerved him. This was not Filia-behavior. But then again, what would be Filia-behavior in this situation?

And that raised a sticky question: Could any Mazoku push her this far?

Could any man?

She _did_ have a tendency to give up once she felt she was beaten, like when those villagers had caught her for being a dragon. She had resigned and accepted her fate. But surely that was given the circumstances. Surely she wouldn't just roll over and obey if any Mazoku waltzed in and threatened her, would she?

This was a bad train of thought and needed to be derailed as soon as possible, he could feel. Because most of the feelings running through his system at this point seemed to be originating from himself rather than her, and he didn't know the names on half of them.

Maybe this hadn't been such a great plan.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**AN:** Alright, a little faster on the update, yes? :D I had a little time and a lot of inspiration.

Question: Was this too much for you? I'm curious, because I'm really trying to keep things T-rated, and I know for a fact that I have a very high Smuttiness-tolerance.

I finally got my husband to do some betaing for me (but thank you so much, Momo to Ume, for offering! It was very kind of you, and I might take you up on it later.).

Of course I suppose this helps very little if I post it before it is beta'ed with the new changes, but I figured you'd rather read it with some errors than to read it tomorrow. I promise I'll go through it today and correct errors as I find them.

I think it's a good thing that I don't allow it to turn M (although it took a great deal of work preventing it!), seeing how there's this vibe coming off of me while I write this pair, which resulted in my husband putting on Rammstein's Buck Dich (Bend!). This song has way too many S/M under/overtones, and if I'm really looking like a sadistic bastard while writing it, well…

Also, screw the limit on the chapters. If you'd rather receive more but shorter updates, then it's fine by me. Creativity, run free!


End file.
